The Crunch: Next to launching a small business, the most significant challenges an entrepreneur often faces is expansion. Whether it is upgrading systems to support higher traffic or gaining insights into performance, small businesses need scalable and personalized hosting solutions that keep step with company growth.Memset, a family-owned UK company founded in 2002, focuses on technology, security, and driving down costs for small businesses. By providing cloud services and hosting through IaaS, Cloud VPS, and Dedicated Servers while making a one-on-one connection with its customers, Memset helps companies take the next step in their journey to success.

After overcoming the challenges of launching and reaching the point of profitability, a small business owner might feel as if the worst growing pains are in the past. But in an online market where customer reach and demand can grow virtually overnight, one of the next greatest challenges is expansion.

As a business expands, the servers and systems that met the needs of a startup can quickly fail to support higher customer traffic and an increase in data. Although technology offers many solutions, the time and expense involved in finding the right one and upgrading expensive equipment or services can delay what are often time-sensitive growth opportunities in a retail niche.

Chris Burden, Sales and Marketing Director for Memset, spoke with us about the company’s hosting capabilities.

Lush, an eco-friendly beauty product line, was in just such a growth cycle when it recognized it needed to upgrade servers that were no longer sufficient to support its internal systems. Lush had two options: Manage and host its own servers, as before, or turn to an off-site hosting solution.

Recalling its experience working with Memset on other system upgrades, Lush turned to the company for its hosting needs. The team at Memset worked closely with Lush to deliver a personalized solution — two off-site servers that could support Lush’s database and customer-facing tools while simultaneously offering faster speeds, better security, and easier upgrades as the company’s needs continued to change.

Memset provided the necessary advanced solutions, but it was the company’s guidance and committed support that made it stand out among other service providers. As Lush’s Information Systems Manager Scott Silverthorn stated, “We have been impressed with Memset’s customer service and technical support as any queries are dealt with quickly and are always fully resolved.”

Memset works with small to large business and organizations across the globe to deliver affordable, customized cloud hosting solutions, and believes every client relationship is worth its personalized attention and effort.

“Small businesses grow into large businesses,” said Chris Burden, Sales and Marketing Director for Memset. “And if you can go on that journey with them and help them, you build a personal relationship, and you grow together.”

A 15-Year Focus on Technology, Affordability, and Security

Memset was founded in the UK in 2002 by sister-and-brother team, Nick and Kate Craig-Wood. During their time working in technology services, the siblings noticed a gap in the market between premium and cheap, poor-quality hosting solutions. As they launched Memset, they determined that the best way to drive down costs without sacrificing quality was to focus on technology.

Incorporating automation, open-source software, and cutting-edge cloud computing to design a reliable, fast, yet flexible infrastructure, the Woods were able to provide an affordable hosting solution that could meet the needs of both small businesses and enterprises in the public and private sector.

“Going back a number of years, it was mostly small customers,” Chris said. “But as customers have joined the journey with Memset and recommended us, it’s become more of a success in terms of moving from small organizations to the enterprise.”

Chris joined Memset in 2017, but during his previous position managing a startup, he had evaluated the market for the most secure cloud hostingand had selected Memset from among a wide selection of service providers. The confidence Chris had in Memset’s security standards reflects the company’s commitment to protecting its clients — and, in turn, helping them protect their own.

Lush Cosmetics agrees. “As a company, we expect our IT providers to see the security of our data and systems as a priority,” Scott stated. “We feel that Memset provides this reassurance, along with very competitive performance-versus-cost quotes.”

With a client list that includes not only SMBs and SMEs responsible for protecting the personal and payment information of their customers, but government organizations and financial services, Memset’s Security Management System provides superior protection from cyber threats.

“It’s focused on data security — it’s about putting the right protection on the edges of access to the cloud we provide, and about having the right underpinning, balances, firewalls, and securities within hardware and software in the perimeters of our offering,” Chris said.

Memset also ensures its clients can pass their own security accreditations within its cloud. “It’s about consulting with the customers and helping them through the journey,” Chris said. “It’s another part of our providing a secure environment that protects data as much as possible.”

IaaS, Cloud VPS, and Dedicated Servers to Meet a Variety of Needs

Website traffic and data flow can fluctuate from month-to-month or quickly escalate during crucial growth phases, so underestimating or overestimating server needs can be costly for a business. Memset provides three types of cloud hosting that cover the full spectrum of needs: Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Cloud Virtual Private Servers (VPS), and dedicated servers, Chris said.

With a flexible pay-as-you-go pricing structure in which users share cloud hosting services, Cloud IaaS is the most cost-effective for many smaller e-commerce businesses that can’t afford — or don’t need — an entire server. At the same time, the flexibility of a cloud-based infrastructure means companies can quickly scale their services up or down based on their current needs.

Similar to traditional VPS, Cloud VPS gives larger businesses personal server space to support higher demands with all the advantages of the cloud, but a lower price point than a hosting plan with dedicated servers.

With the UK’s push to motivate more people to ride bicycles, business was good for Merlin Cycles. But when increasing instances of downtime on its site began to interfere with customer ordering and order processing, Merlin turned to Memset for help.

By powering its site with Memset dedicated servers, Merlin was able not only to eliminate costly downtime but streamline its core business processes into one system. And Merlin can generate a variety of management reports to gain greater visibility and actionable insights from its business operations.

Memset offers growing businesses like Merlin and Lush the advantages of cloud technology with affordable, flexible hosting options. But what sets the company apart is its personalized advice and guidance.

Personalized Attention and Tech to Help Small Businesses Expand

Memset started with the mission to provide affordable cloud services to smaller businesses, but over the years, the company has gained enterprise clients as well. While some hosting providers shift more of their focus to higher-paying, higher-demand clients, Memset is dedicated to giving each of its clients — regardless of size — the individual attention to overcome challenges and grow. Often, that entails on-site, face-to-face consultation.

“To me, it’s the conversations and understanding of businesses that make Memset great,” Chris said. “The culture in Memset is people-to-people oriented, not organization-to-money oriented.”

Memset chooses to focus on cloud technology and partner with other companies to deliver full-scale business solutions such as money services or desktop support.

“We go in as Memset, and we’re in a position to recommend preferred people we work with in other areas,” Chris said. “In doing that, confidence builds within the customer, but it also makes stronger relationships with the partners so you can put together a better, more personal package or solution for the customers.”

Delivering affordable, secure cloud solutions for all types of businesses and organizations, Memset has expanded its market by working with resellers, and partners and now serves more than 2,500 customers in the UK and countries across the globe.

“Every customer has different needs, and they have a different journey to go on. It’s about what’s best for the customer in their foreseen journey, and part of that is thinking about them, and the cost to them,” Chris said. “You want that cost to be as reasonable as possible, so they have the chance to grow their business.”

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Jessica Sommerfield is a contributing writer for DealCrunch with over seven years of experience with online publications in the personal finance sector and other consumer-focused niches. Her 13 years of experience in brick-and-mortar stores prior to her writing career have also given her an insider’s perspective on the unique challenges that the retail industry faces.

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